A Special Selection of Photos from the Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin
The
bauhaus.photo exhibition opens on December 3, 2019, at 6:30 pm, at the Goethe-Institut Washington, accompanied by a conversation with curator Dr. Astrid Bähr.
It features a special selection of key works from the collection of more than 70,000 Bauhaus photos held by the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung in Berlin – the largest such collection in the world. The exhibition provides an impressive insight into the many facets of Bauhaus photography and life at the Bauhaus.
As one of the twentieth century's most avant-garde schools, the Bauhaus was founded by the architect Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. It relocated to Dessau in 1925, and was closed in Berlin in 1933 under pressure from the Nazis. Many Bauhäusler were forced to leave Germany. Some of them came to America, where their ideas fell on fertile ground. For all those interested in architecture and design, the Bauhaus offers countless associations and points of contact. The Bauhaus workshops gave rise to modern design objects aimed at a new way of life – from everyday items to residential buildings. Many of the designs, particularly those in the fields of furniture-making and architecture, have since acquired historic importance.
Portrait, architectural and product photography depict life at the Bauhaus and provide visitors with an extensive overview of the artistically diverse photography at the Bauhaus. The internationality of the Bauhaus’s students and teachers contributed to the fact that parallels to contemporary avant-garde photography – from Surrealism and Dadaism to the New Vision and New Objectivity – simultaneously developed there.
The exhibition presents classic works by Lucia Moholy, László Moholy-Nagy, and T. Lux Feininger as well as images by less popular photographers like Kattina Both, Irene Bayer and Max Peiffer Watenpfuhl and a few superb works by entirely unknown artists. Their photos use dynamic diagonals, extreme perspectives and refined tricks to visualize the experimental and professional approach to the medium of photography at the Bauhaus. The image these pictures convey of life at one of the 20th century’s most important art schools still remains fascinating.
The exhibition
bauhaus.photo is touring throughout the USA as a part of the “Year of German-American Friendship” 2018/19: A collaborative initiative funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, implemented by the Goethe-Institut, and with support of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
RSVP
On view at:
Goethe-Institut Washington
1377 R St. NW, Ste. 300
Washington, DC 20009
Exhibition Hours: Mon - Thu 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Fri 10:00 am - 3:30 pm
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